"The Emperor's Clothes" (Part 2)

When we put on the Emperor's clothes, we will smell like Him.

Colossians 3:14-15

Bible Passage

Colossians 3:1-15 (CSB - Christian Standard Bible)

1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

6Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,

7and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.

8But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.

9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices

10and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.

11In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

12Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

13bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.

14Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

15And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

1

HOOK (Grab Attention)

Illustration

Good smelling perfume/cologne??

When we were first married, Jess used to love to keep my shirts because they would smell like me and my cologne.

She was captured with the fragrance of the one she loved.

She loved to be around me, but when I physically wasn't there, she would put those shirts on and it would remind her of everything about me that she loves.

Me and Jess have been looking over investments etc for the past couple of months, talking, chatting, researching...

QUESTION:  What is the most valuable thing to you?

a vehicle?

job?

spouse?

YOUR TIME?

What if I told you that if you would invest your time into a certain thing, that you would then gain the most valuable thing that can be obtained in life?

Would you want to hear about this investment??

2

BOOK

Bible Passage

Colossians 3:14-15 (CSB - Christian Standard Bible)

14Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

15And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

Explanation

"Above all"

After all of these things I have listed for you to put on, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!!

"put on LOVE"

You and I, as God's chosen ones, holy and dearly loved,

compassion = pity, heartbroken

kindness vs "niceness"

humility = "Humility is an awareness of who God is, which defines who we are and allows us to rightly relate to other people."  -Joel Muddamalle

gentleness = meekness

Humility is KNOWING and UNDERSTANDING your position before God and others

Meekness is how you live and move in humility...how you carry yourself in a genuinely humble manner.

patience = long-suffering

bearing with one another = "putting up with"

forgiving one another...just as the Lord has forgiven you

Holy Spirit, through Paul, is telling us that ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE ESSENTIAL, BUT....

you can:

have a COMPASSION for people WITHOUT love

have KINDNESS for people WITHOUT love

have a sense of HUMILITY WITHOUT love

have GENTLENESS WITHOUT love

have LONG-SUFFERING WITHOUT love

BEAR WITH OTHER PEOPLE WITHOUT LOVE

FORGIVE people WITHOUT love

BUT YOU CANNOT LOVE WITHOUT PUTTING ON ALL OF THESE THINGS!!!

Putting on LOVE is ABOVE ALL....

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, that you can do ALL SORTS OF GODLY THINGS and not have love...

Bible Passage

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (CSB - Christian Standard Bible)

1If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

3And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Explanation

Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving your neighbor in the same way you love yourself is the GREATEST COMMANDMENT!!

Even the GREAT COMMISSION is NOT the GREATEST COMMANDMENT

"The GREAT COMMISSION without the GREATEST COMMANDMENT, is a GREAT CATASTROPHE...

LOVE IS SUPREME because GOD IS LOVE

SINCE God is LOVE, if we DO NOT HAVE LOVE in us, we do not have GOD IN US.

...and if we do NOT have GOD IN US, we are not BORN AGAIN...if we are NOT BORN AGAIN, we are dead in our trespasses and sins...

Love is "the perfect bond of unity"

"Unity" = bound together as one

Love unites us to ONE ANOTHER

Love unites us to GOD HIMSELF

Jesus prays in John 17 that we "may be in them" as they are one.

We have been brought into the Trinitarian Family in JESUS.

He became our sin.

He gave us His righteousness.

If we "put on" love, as the fragrance of the King, in everything we do, we will find unity with other brothers and sisters who are walking in His love.

"Let the peace of Christ, to which you were called in one body, RULE YOUR HEARTS."

As you have "put on love" towards God and towards others, you will find PEACE for your souls...

Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)

If we need peace, we need to go to Jesus.  HE himself is our peace.  (Ephesians 2:14)

Why does Paul say "let the peace of Christ...RULE YOUR HEARTS"??

There are SO MANY other things that are fighting to "rule" who you are...

Worry

Stress

Strife with other people

Fear

Your FEELINGS/EMOTIONS

Holy Spirit is telling us through Paul to "let the peace of Christ...RULE YOUR HEART"

"Rule" literally means to "sit as umpire"

"calling balls and strikes"

"foul or no foul"

"in bounds or out of bounds"

so many times our emotions in the middle of our situations will try to IMPOSE its false reality into our lives...

It is a MIRAGE.  MOST times it is UNTRUE or TWISTED

Let the PEACE of CHRIST tell you what REALITY truly is!

We find that peace when our hearts find its greatest love in the presence of God...

"Be thankful"

Have a heart postured with GRATITUDE

UNTHANKFULNESS is the slippery slope shown in Romans 1

We should be a people who are marked by thankfulness.

Thankfulness to:

people, especially the household of God.

for the fellowship of the saints

Find reasons to be thankful and TELL SOMEONE and SHOW SOMEONE you are thankful for them!

God

For causing us to be BORN AGAIN

For DESTROYING our sin on the cross

He became sin, who knew no sin, so that, in Him, we might become the righteousness of God

What an EVENT!!!

If you can't be thankful for THAT, you can't be thankful for ANYTHING...

3

LOOK

Application

If we are a people who are putting on the Emperor's Family Clothes we will be a people who are:

Thankful

Peaceful

ABOVE ALL, full of the LOVE OF GOD.

If we have not love, we have NOTHING.

HOW DO WE PUT ON LOVE??

by sitting in the presence of God

Worshipping Him

Not just singing songs

spending time with Him in His Word

through speaking with Him in prayer

Listening to Him and obeying.

We only smell like someone after we have been around them.

Be around Jesus and what HE is doing in this world.

At your workplace.

At your school.

In your home.

4

TOOK

Challenge Application

Knowing that LOVE is the MOST IMPORTANT piece of Kingdom clothing, as we move forward together:

Let's ask Jesus to bring us to a place of genuine Humility.

Let's ask Jesus to fill our lives with His love.

Then all of the other articles of Kingdom clothing with fall in line:

We said at the beginning:

What if I told you that if you would invest your time into a certain thing, that you would then gain the most valuable thing that can be obtained in life?

WILL YOU INVEST YOUR TIME INTO SITTING WITH JESUS??

We spend time with Jesus we will have:

Love

Unity

thankfulness

peace

compassion

kindness not "niceness"

humility

gentleness

long-suffering

bearing with one another

forgiveness

If we are walking in the LOVE OF GOD, we have everything.  We will LITERALLY have the MOST VALUABLE thing inside and outside the cosmos.... JESUS.

Do you want Him?

Do you love Him?

Spend time with Him and see what rewards you will reap...